Sunday, December 31, 2017

One of the most consequential years in world history, highlighted by the Communist revolution in Russia and the United States' entry into the World War, has come to an end. In December 1917 the Bolsheviks, having driven the Provisional Government from power, occupy Russian Army headquarters and murder the Army's former commander-in-chief. An armistice is declared on the Eastern Front and
negotiations begin for a permanent peace treaty between the new Russian government and the Central Powers.The announced goal of the talks is a peace on the
basis of no annexations and a withdrawal of occupying forces, but the difficulty of achieving that goal in
practice becomes apparent when the two sides present their proposals. In Palestine, a British Army commanded by
General Edmund Allenby occupies Jerusalem. On the Western Front the British stall German counterattacks at Cambrai and dig into defensive positions for the winter; Italian forces, aided by British reinforcements, turn back the Austrians on the Asiago Plateau. Ships collide in Halifax harbor, causing a fire and a massive explosion that kills thousands.An American destroyer is torpedoed and
sunk by a German submarine. The United
States declares war on Austria-Hungary.Colonel House returns from Paris where he has been meeting with the Allies. President Wilson, using his
war powers, takes control of the nation’s railroads. The House of Representatives joins the Senate in approving a prohibition amendment to the Constitution.

*****

General Dukhonin

Bolshevik
troops led by Ensign Nikolai Krylenko, who replaced General Nikolai
Dukhonin as commander-in-chief of the Russian Army last month, entered
Mogilev on December 1 and seized the Russian military headquarters. Two
days later, as he was attempting to depart for Petrograd, General
Dukhonin was dragged from his train and beaten to death by a mob of
Bolshevik sailors. General Lavr Kornilov, whose attempted right-wing
coup earlier this year
ended in failure, escaped Mogilev the day before the Bolsheviks took
over. A statement issued by Krylenko on December 4 announced that the Army headquarters had been occupied without fighting, and that as a result "the last
obstacle to the cause of peace" had fallen. He said he
regretted "the sad act of lynch law practiced upon the former highest
commander-in-chief, General Dukhonin," which was the result of
"popular hatred [that] surpassed the limits of reason" caused by "the
flight of General Kornilov the day before."

Representatives of Russia and the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk

Representatives of Russia's new Bolshevik government are in Brest-Litovsk, a city behind German lines at the confluence of the Bug and Mukhavetz Rivers in western Belorussia, where they are meeting with representatives of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian and Turkish governments. On December 15 the parties agreed on an armistice extending to all the land, air and naval forces on their common fronts. The armistice will remain in effect until January 14, after which it will continue automatically unless seven days notice is given. Negotiations for a permanent peace treaty began on December 22. The negotiators have agreed on a series of important points, including liberation of war prisoners and resumption of diplomatic and commercial relations. The question of the disposition of occupied territories, however, has been more difficult. Both sides invoke the principle of no annexations, and both sides offer to withdraw from occupied territory, but their views of how that is to be accomplished differ markedly. Russia proposes to "withdraw her troops from all parts of Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Persia occupied by her, while the powers of the Quadruple Alliance will withdraw theirs from Poland." Then an opportunity will be given for "all peoples living in Russia" to decide "entirely and freely the question of their union with one or the other empire, or their formation into independent states." Invoking the same principle, Germany has made a very different proposal. She offers "as soon as peace is concluded with Russia and the demobilization of the Russian Armies has been accomplished to evacuate her present positions in occupied Russian territory" but asserts that peace can be achieved only upon the basis of "a full state of independence and separation from the Russian Empire for Poland, Lithuania, Courland, and portions of Estonia and Livonia." Russia has replied that "only such manifestation of will can be regarded as a de facto expression of the will of the people as results from a free vote taken in the districts in question, with the complete absence of foreign troops." At year's end negotiations are at an impasse.

General Allenby Entering Jerusalem

The British Army in Palestine, after capturing Beersheba, advanced through Gaza and surrounded Jerusalem. On December 9 the Turks surrendered the city, and two days later the British commander General Edmund Allenby entered the Old City through the Jaffa Gate. In order to avoid any appearance of triumphalism, and to show respect for the City's holy places, he entered on foot rather than horseback. No Allied flags were allowed to be flown over the City, and Muslim soldiers from India were assigned to guard the Dome of the Rock.

Asiago

On the Western Front, the British push toward Cambrai, which began last month with a successful attack spearheaded by "tanks," has bogged down. German counterattacks have regained much of the ground lost in the early days of the battle, and on December 2 Field Marshal Haig directed a withdrawal to secure defensive positions for the winter. At year's end, German counterattacks were continuing with mixed results. On the Italian Front, British troops transferred form France have aided the Italians in turning back the Austro-German advance on the Asiago Plateau.

Halifax Harbor After the Explosion

On December 6, the SS Mont Blanc, a freighter loaded with munitions en route from New York to France, was entering the harbor at Halifax, Nova
Scotia to join a transatlantic convoy when it collided with a departing
steamship. The ensuing fire and explosion destroyed or damaged every building in the city, killed 2,000
people
and injured over 9,000. Rescue efforts were hampered by a fierce blizzard that struck Halifax the day after the explosion.

U.S.S. Jacob Jones (DD-61)

For
the first time in the war, the United States Navy has lost a warship to
enemy action. On December 6, the U.S.S. Jacob Jones (DD-61) was en
route independently from Brest to Queenstown after participating in the
escort of a transatlantic convoy when she was torpedoed and sunk by a
German submarine near the Isles of Scilly. Sixty-six officers and men
of her 107-man crew were lost.

Meyer London

The 65th Congress convened on Monday, December 3 for its regular session. The next day President Wilson journeyed to the Capitol to deliver his annual State of the Union message. Many Congressmen had been calling for a declaration of war against Germany's allies Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria, but no one knew when the President began speaking what the President would ask Congress to do. For most of his address, he called for a concentrated effort in the war against Germany. He told Congress that "our immediate task is to win the war, and nothing shall turn us aside until it is accomplished" and that "those who desire to bring peace about before that purpose is
achieved I counsel to carry their advice elsewhere. We will not
entertain it." He said "we shall regard the war as won only when the German people say to us, through properly accredited representatives, that they are ready to agree to a settlement based on justice and the reparation of the wrongs their rulers have done," Among those wrongs are "a wrong to Belgium, which must be repaired," and "establish[ing] a power over other lands and peoples than their own -- over the great empire of Austria-Hungary, over hitherto free Balkan States, over Turkey, and within Asia -- which must be relinquished." The President was more than half way through his speech before he addressed the question of adding to the nation's list of enemies. In pursuing the goal of pushing "this great war of freedom and justice to its righteous conclusion," he cited "one very embarrassing obstacle that stands in our way." That is "that we are at war with Germany, but not with her allies." He therefore recommended "very earnestly" that Congress declare war against Austria-Hungary because that nation is "not her own mistress, but simply the vassal of the German government." He acknowledged that "the same logic would lead also to a declaration of war against Turkey and Bulgaria," but said that although those nations "also are the tools of Germany, . . . they are mere tools and do not yet stand in the direct path of our necessary action."

The war resolution submitted to Congress, which did not include Turkey and Bulgaria, passed both houses of Congress on December 7 with only one dissenting vote. The single no vote was cast by Representative Meyer London of New York, the only Socialist member of Congress, who explained that "as a Socialist, I am pledged to vote against a declaration of war. In matters of war I am a teetotaler. I refuse to take the first intoxicating drink." Senator Robert LaFollette, who was a vocal opponent of the war with Germany in April, was absent from the chamber and later claimed he had not heard the bell announcing the roll call. Representative Jeannette Rankin, another no vote in April, voted for the resolution. She said "I still believe that war is a stupid and futile way of attempting to settle international difficulties," but "the vote that we are now to cast is not on the declaration of war. . . . This is merely a vote on a technicality in the prosecution of the war already declared. I shall vote for this, as I voted for money and men."

Colonel House With President Wilson

President
Wilson's close advisor "Colonel" Edward M. House returned on December
15 from Paris, where he represented the United States at a meeting of
the Inter-Allied Supreme War Council. Upon his return he issued a
statement to the press proclaiming his mission "a great success." He
told the reporters meeting his ship that before the conference the
efforts of the Allies were "not focused," but that "they are working
together now, and the promises are that they will continue to do so."
Asked about peace prospects and war aims, he said "I didn't talk peace
with a soul in Europe. I didn't discuss war aims. ... As for peace,
perhaps what was accomplished was a great peace step, because it was a
step toward winning the war. ... Please don't let anyone get the idea
that we discussed peace." Three days later in a meeting at the White
House he was more forthcoming, telling President Wilson that he had
tried without success to persuade the Allies to join in a broad
declaration of war aims that would unite the world against Germany. The
President is now considering making such a declaration on his own.

Secretary McAdoo

When Congress passed the Army Appropriations Act in August 1916, it included the following language: "The president, in time of war, is empowered, through the Secretary of War, to take possession and assume control of any system or systems of
transportation, or any part thereof, and to utilize the same, to the
exclusion as far as may be necessary of all other traffic thereon, for
the transfer or transportation of troops, war material, and equipment,
or for such other purposes connected with the emergency as may be useful
or desirable." Now that the United States has entered a "time of war," the President has decided to exercise that power. On December 26, using "powers ... granted me by the act of Congress of August 1916," he announced his decision to take control of the nation's railroads in an attempt to deal with the critical problem of increasing railroad congestion. As required by the legislation, the action was taken "through the Secretary of War," but the President delegated actual control of the railroads to Secretary of the Treasury William G. McAdoo. At noon on Friday, December 28, all 257,000 miles of the nation's
railroads passed into government control as McAdoo became
Director General of Railroads with authority to direct and finance the country's transportation facilities for the duration of the war. On December 29 he completed the process of unifying the railroads into a national
system of transportation when he issued an order
directing that "all transportation systems covered by [the President's December 26]
proclamation and order shall be operated as a national system of
transportation, the common and national needs being in all instances
held paramount to any actual or supposed corporate advantage. All
terminals, ports, locomotives, rolling stock, and other transportation
facilities are to be fully utilized to carry out this purpose." Among other things, the order ended the Pennsylvania Railroad's
exclusive right to the use of the huge Pennsylvania terminal station in
New York City and the tubes under the Hudson River leading into it. Those
facilities are now available to all carriers.

On December 31 Secretary McAdoo addressed a critical coal shortage in the northeast by ordering that coal be given priority over passengers and freight on the nation's railroads. One of the major causes of the shortage is the back-up of unloaded coal cars at the New Jersey terminals on the Hudson River. After conferring with Fuel Administrator Harry A. Garfield, McAdoo asked New York City Mayor-elect Hylan, who will assume office on New Year's Day, to
detail as many city employees as possible to help get the cars unloaded, and he is working with Edward N. Hurley, Chairman of the Shipping Board, to increase the number of ships available to carry the coal to New England.

Senator Sheppard

The campaign to make America dry passed a major milestone this month. A proposed amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within the United States," which was passed by the Senate in August, was approved by the House of Representatives on December17. The Senate, which is dominated by rural interests, has historically been more receptive to the dry forces than the House, which represents a more urban and ethnically diverse constituency, including a number of recent immigrants from Germany, Ireland and Italy. The next day the Senate agreed to minor changes made by the House and the proposed amendment was submitted to the states for ratification. It includes a provision, never before included in proposed amendments to the Constitution, that it will be inoperative unless it is ratified by the necessary three-fourths of the states within seven years.

Representative Hobson

In 1914 an earlier version of the prohibition amendment was passed by the Senate but fell short in the House. That vote, however, was encouraging to the dry forces because for the first time a majority (though less than the necessary two-thirds) of representatives had voted for the amendment. The sponsor of the amendment that year was Representative Richmond P. Hobson (Dem., Ala.). His advocacy for prohibition was popular in his home state, but his racial views found less favor, especially outside his Birmingham congressional district. A former naval officer, he had introduced legislation to allow residents of Porto Rico and the Philippines to apply for admission to West Point and Annapolis, and other legislation to make it unlawful to discriminate against Negro soldiers and sailors in uniform in the District of Columbia. Also undermining his support among the white voters of Alabama was his criticism of President Roosevelt's dishonorable discharges of Negro
soldiers following racial unrest in Brownsville, Texas in 1906. In 1914, he left his House seat to run for an open Senate seat, but lost the Democratic primary (the only competitive race in Alabama) to Representative Oscar W. Underwood, the House majority leader. With Hobson's departure from Congress, leadership of the dry forces passed to Senator Sheppard.

*****

December 1917 – Selected Sources and Recommended Reading

Contemporary Periodicals:

American Review of Reviews, January and February 1918

New York
Times, December 1917 and January 1918

Books and Articles:

A. Scott Berg, Wilson

Britain at War Magazine, The Fourth Year of the Great War: 1917
Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis 1911-1918
John Milton Cooper, Jr., Woodrow Wilson: A Biography
John Milton Cooper, Jr., The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and
Theodore Roosevelt

John Dos Passos, Mr. Wilson's War

David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East, 1914-1922

Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life
Martin Gilbert, The First World War: A Complete History

Thursday, November 30, 2017

In November 1917 British
Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issues a declaration stating the British
Government’s support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish
people.” The Bolsheviks seize power in Russia and proclaim to the world that the new government intends to negotiate an
“immediate democratic peace.”Prime
Minister Kerensky escapes Petrograd and rallies
the Army in an attempt to retake control, but is defeated and goes into hiding.Trotsky publishes the text of confidential
diplomatic communications and secret treaties with foreign governments
discovered in the Russian Foreign Office.Armistice negotiations between Russia and Germany begin. On the Western
Front, the battle of Passchendaele comes to an end after weeks of intense
combat and high casualties on both sides.The British Army launches a surprise tank attack at Cambrai; initial
gains are lost in German counterattacks. Allied leaders meet in Rapallo to coordinate strategy. French
Prime Minister Painleve is forced to resign after losing a
vote of confidence; former Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau assumes leadership of a new government.An American delegation led by Colonel House arrives in Paris for the inaugural conference of the Inter-Allied Supreme War Council. In Great Britain,
the Marquess of Lansdowne, a former Foreign Secretary, sends a letter to the Daily
Telegraph urging the Government to seek a negotiated peace with Germany.In an agreement finalized in Washington, the United States agrees that Japan has "special interests" in China and Japan agrees to the "principle" of the "open door" policy; China is not consulted. President Wilson tells the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor in Buffalo that the way to a permanent peace is through victory.American forces achieve their first victories and suffer their first casualties of the war. Woman suffrage, still making slow but steady
gains state by state, is approved in New York
but rejected in Ohio.New York City's reform mayor John Purroy Mitchel loses his
bid for reelection to Tammany Hall’s candidate.The Espionage Act survives a First Amendment challenge.

*****

Arthur Balfour and His Declaration

Zionism
is a movement established in the 1890's to promote the establishment of
a Jewish homeland in the historic land of Israel in Ottoman Palestine.
It was begun by Theodor Herzl and continued after Herzl's death by
Chaim Weizmann. The movement gained momentum with the outbreak of the
World War and the Ottoman Empire's decision to join the war on the side
of the Central Powers. In last year's Sykes-Picot Agreement, in which
Great Britain, France and Russia agreed to the division of large parts
of the Ottoman Empire into spheres of influence, the future of that
territory, including Jerusalem and its surroundings, was left for future
determination. On November 2, motivated at least in part by a desire
to appeal to the Jews of Russia, most of whom are believed to support the Zionist cause, the
British Government issued a declaration signed by Foreign Minister
Arthur Balfour. The brief declaration states "His Majesty's government
view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for
the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the
achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing
will be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of
existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and
political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

Lenin in Petrograd

In the aftermath of the Kornilov Affair (see the September 1917 installment of this blog), Russian public opinion, at least in the streets of Petrograd, moved decisively in favor of the Bolsheviks. On November 4, reacting to reports that Russian soldiers on the Baltic front were throwing down their arms and fraternizing with the Germans, the Provisional Government ordered the Petrograd garrison to the front. The only result of Kerensky's order was to cause the Bolsheviks to accelerate their plan to overthrow the government. On November 6 (October 24 on the Russian calendar) the Bolsheviks seized control of telephone exchanges, post offices, banks, bridges, railway stations and other key locations in Petrograd. Then they issued an ultimatum to the Provisional Government and surrounded the Winter Palace, where the members of the Provisional Government were in residence. The Bolsheviks, who greatly outnumbered the forces loyal to the government, were further reinforced by naval forces arriving from the Baltic, including a cruiser that anchored in the Neva River and trained its guns on the Winter Palace. The government surrendered the next day without bloodshed, and the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet promptly issued a statement that it had "deposed the government of Kerensky, which rose against the revolution and the people." It called on Russian soldiers to "watch closely the conduct of the men in command" and ensure that "officers who do not join the accomplished revolution immediately and openly [are] arrested at once as enemies." It outlined a four-point program: "First -- the offer of an immediate democratic peace. Second -- the immediate handing over of large proprietorial lands to the peasants. Third -- the transmission of all authority to the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates. Fourth -- the honest convocation of a Constitutional Assembly."

As the Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace, Premier Kerensky managed to escape in an automobile borrowed from the American Embassy. He drove to Pskov, where he rallied the troops in an attempt to come to the government's defense. His troops succeeded in capturing Tsarskoe Selo, but were turned back at Pulkovo. Kerensky is now in hiding, and the Bolsheviks are firmly in control of Petrograd, and apparently of the Russian army and government.

Leon Trotsky

On November 24 Leon Trotsky, the Foreign Minister of the new Bolshevik government, began releasing the text of secret diplomatic communications and treaties found in the Russian archives. Among the material disclosed was last year's Sykes-Picot Agreement, dividing post-war spheres of influence in the Ottoman Empire between France and Great Britain (see the April 1916 installment of this blog). The documents, Trotsky said in a statement, are those of the "Czaristic bourgeois and coalition governments" from which "the Russian nation and all nations in the world must learn the truth of the plans secretly made by financiers and traders through their parliamentary and diplomatic agents." He said that while German and Austrian politicians might try to take advantage of the release to the detriment of Russian interests, he is confident that when the German proletariat, by means of a revolution, gain access to their nations' chancelleries they will find documents that show those governments in no better light.

Nikolai Krylenko

The new Russian government has moved quickly to redeem its pledge to get the country out of the war. Lenin has hedged slightly, saying his party has already fulfilled its promises by releasing the secret treaties and making "an immediate proposal for peace." He states that "the revolutionary struggle for peace" will now begin. When General Nikolai Dukhonin, named commander-in-chief of the Russian Army by Premier Kerensky in August, refused Lenin's order to open armistice talks, he was dismissed and replaced by Ensign Nikolai Krylenko, who despite his modest military title is a "People's Commissar" and a member of the inner circle of the new government. Krylenko sent three representatives to the German commander at the front with instructions to inquire whether immediate negotiations for an armistice might be commenced. The Russian delegates crossed the German lines on November 27 and began negotiations with the German military authorities with the goal of beginning comprehensive negotiations for an armistice.

Chancellor von Hertling

Germany has a new Chancellor, Georg von Hertling, who came to power on November 1. In a speech in the Reichstag on November 29, he responded to the Russian overture by announcing that Germany is prepared to enter into peace negotiations with the new Russian government as soon as it is able to send representatives with full powers to Berlin. Negotiations are now scheduled to begin on December 2. The French and American military missions in Petrograd responded to these developments by sending letters to the Russian government formally protesting any separate armistice or peace by Russia. On November 30 their letters drew a sharp response from Foreign Minister Trotsky, who insisted that Russia "cannot permit allied military and diplomatic agents to interfere in the internal affairs of our country and attempt to excite civil war."

Ground Won by the Canadians at Passchendaele

The
British offensive on the Ypres Salient came to an end this month, short
of its original goal of the railway junction at Roulers. Since it
began on the last day of July, the offensive gained four and a half
miles of muddy ground at the cost of 62,000 British, Canadian and Anzac
soldiers killed and 164,000 wounded. The village of Passchendaele was
captured on November 6 and the ridge beyond on November 10. The final
attack, like most of the offensive, was hindered by a steady rain that
turned the battlefield into a swamp.

A British Tank at the Battle of Cambrai

After
securing Passchendaele Ridge and the little that was left of the
village of Passchendaele, Field Marshal Haig turned his attention to the
town of Cambrai, an important supply center for the Germans about six
miles behind the Hindenburg Line. At 6:20 a.m. on November 20, without
any advance artillery preparation or other indication that an attack was
imminent, the British began an intense artillery barrage coordinated
with a simultaneous attack by a mass formation of 324 Mark IV "tanks."
Compared to the area around the Ypres Salient, the terrain was dry and
solid, ideal for tanks, which rolled effortlessly over the multiple
lines of barbed wire the Germans had deployed. Caught by surprise, the
Germans found the tanks on top of them before they could react and the
British were able to make substantial gains. Bells of celebration were
rung in London when news of the advance arrived on November 23, but on
the 27th the British were forced to break off the action short of the
town of Cambrai, and in a counterattack begun the next day the Germans
regained much of the lost ground.

German Troops in Vittorio Veneto

The
Italian Army has been in retreat since the Austro-German offensive
began last month at Caporetto. Unable to prevent the crossing of the
Tagliamento on November 6, the Italian Army fell back to the Piave, the
last river between the Austrians and Venice and sixty miles from
Caporetto where the attack began. With help from British troops
transferred from the Western Front, the Italians have been successful in
preventing a crossing of the Piave, and on November 19 they mounted a
counteroffensive on the Asiago Plateau.

General Cadorna

Political and military leader of Italy, France and Great Britain met at Rapallo, a small town near Rome, on November 5 to discuss military strategy in the midst of the severe setbacks suffered by the Italian Army in the Caporetto offensive. The delegations were led by the prime ministers: David Lloyd George
for Great Britain, Paul Painleve for France, and Vittorio Orlando for
Italy. The conference promised aid to the struggling Italian forces and established a Supreme War Council to coordinate the Allies' future military strategy. At the insistence of Britain and France, General Luigi Cadorna, the architect of Italy's failed campaign on the Isonzo, was dismissed as chief of the Italian General Staff and replaced by General Armando Diaz. The conferees agreed to a meeting of the Allied Supreme War Council on November 15 in Paris.

Georges Clemenceau

When
French Prime Minister Paul Painleve returned to Paris from the
conference at Rapallo, he immediately confronted a political
crisis. On November 13, an extended debate in the Chamber of Deputies
on the question of the new Allied War Council led to a narrow vote in
the government's favor, but it was followed by interpellations (formal
questions interrupting the regular order in parliamentary procedure)
seeking an explanation of accusations in the press of a royalist plot
and against former Minister of the Interior Louis-Jean Malvy. Painleve
demanded postponement of those questions until after the conclusion of
the inter-allied conference, and made that question one of confidence.
On the ensuing vote of confidence the Socialists refused to support the government, and the government lost by a vote of 277-186. Painleve and
his cabinet immediately submitted their resignations to President
Poincare. The new Prime Minister, who will now represent France on the
Supreme Allied War Council, is newspaper editor and former Prime
Minister Georges Clemenceau, who will also serve as Minister of War.

American Mission to the Inter-Allied Supreme War Council

(on the sofa: Admiral Benson, "Colonel" House, General Bliss)

Last month an American mission was sent to Paris to obtain information regarding the existing conditions of the Allied nations prosecuting the war against Germany and to determine the most effective contribution the United States could make as an Associated Power. The mission arrived in London on November 7, the same day the Allies in Rapallo created the Supreme Allied War Council and the Bolsheviks overthrew the Kerensky government in Russia. The American mission is led by President Wilson's advisor "Colonel" Edward M. House. He is accompanied by Army Chief of Staff General Tasker H. Bliss and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson, as the military and naval representatives. On November 17 the United States formally adhered to the Supreme War Council and designated Colonel House and General Bliss as its civilian and military representatives. The next day, President Wilson sent a cable to Colonel House asking him to attend the first meeting of the Council and emphasizing that "unity of plan and control" between the Allies and the United States is essential to achieving a just and permanent peace. The Council is now scheduled to meet in Paris on December 1.

Viscount Ishii Kikujiro and Secretary of State Robert Lansing

Secretary of State Robert Lansing and Viscount Ishii Kikujiro, special ambassador from Japan, entered into an agreement on November 2 in which the United States "recognizes that Japan has special interests in China." The same agreement, however, states that the two governments "will always adhere to the principle of the so-called 'open door,' or equal opportunity for commerce and industry in China." Ten days later, the Chinese government formally protested, stating that it does not consider itself bound by agreements entered into by other nations. By declaring war on Germany in August, China aligned itself, at least formally, with Japan in the World War. The Lansing-Ishii Agreement, however, highlights the continuing adversarial relationship between the two countries.

The Marquis of Lansdowne

Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, Fifth Marquis of Lansdowne and former Governor-general of Canada, Viceroy of India and Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, has written a letter to the Daily Telegraph which was published on November 29. In his letter Lord Lansdowne called for immediate negotiations to bring an end to the World War, the prolongation of which, he said, "will spell ruin to the civilized world, and an infinite addition to the load of human suffering which already weighs upon it." Lord Lansdowne's letter has been widely denounced in the press and disavowed by British politicians of all parties. Lord Northcliffe's Evening News called the Marquis of Lansdowne the "Marquis of Hands Up."

President Wilson in Buffalo

President Wilson with Samuel Gompers (Center) and Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson Last Year at the Dedication of the AFL's New Headquarters in Washington

In a speech on November 12 to the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor in Buffalo, New York, President Wilson warned against a premature peace with Germany. He appealed to American labor for its full cooperation in achieving victory in the World War. He brought the crowd to its feet cheering when he dismissed the pacifists, saying "I want peace, but I know how to get it and they do not." The President said he had sent Colonel House abroad to confer with the other nations that are at war with Germany to arrive at a strategy for victory, "and he knows, as I know, that that is the way to get peace if you want it for more than a few minutes." He paid tribute to Samuel Gompers, the President of the Federation, saluting Gompers as a man of "patriotic courage, large vision, and a statesmanlike sense of what is to be done." The President addressed indirectly a rumored revolt of pacifists and Socialists against Gompers' leadership when he said "I like to lay my mind alongside a mind that knows how to pull in harness. The horses that kick over the traces will have to be put in a corral."

U.S.S. Fanning in Port After Its Battle With a German U-boat

This month saw the first combat by American forces, on land and sea. On November 17, the Navy claimed its first
victory of the war. Two destroyers, U.S.S.
Fanning (DD-37) and U.S.S. Nicholson (DD-52), were escorting a convoy in
the North Atlantic when an alert lookout on the Fanning sighted a small
periscope that was visible for only a few seconds. Fanning
immediately headed for the spot and dropped a depth charge about three
minutes after the sighting. It was joined by Nicholson, which
dropped another depth charge, forcing the U-boat to the surface.
The destroyers gave chase, firing their bow guns, and after the third
shot the submarine hove to and the crew came on deck with their hands in the air. The entire engagement lasted about ten minutes. An
attempt was made to take the U-boat in tow, but it began to sink and the
German sailors jumped into the water and swam to the Fanning. Most of
them were rescued and taken prisoner.

Fighting on the Western
Front has claimed the lives of three
Americans. On November 16, Corporal James Gresham and Privates Merle D.
Hay and Thomas F. Enright became the first American soldiers reported killed in action in the World War. They were mentioned in the dispatches of the French
General commanding the sector, who reported that they "died bravely in
hand-to-hand fighting with the enemy, who had penetrated the first
line."

Suffragists on Fifth Avenue

A Women's Suffrage Amendment to the New York Constitution was overwhelmingly approved on November 6. On the same day a similar proposal was defeated in Ohio. This is the third time the voters of Ohio have rejected Women's Suffrage proposals. All the voters in both states, of course, were male.

John F. Hylan

Tammany Hall swept the November 6 municipal elections in New York City. The Tammany candidate for mayor, John F. Hylan, easily defeated both the incumbent mayor, John Purroy Mitchel, who ran as an independent, and William Bennett, the man who defeated Mitchel in the Republican primary. Mitchel came in second. Morris Hillquit, the Socialist candidate, came in third, barely behind Mitchel and well ahead of Bennett, who finished a distant fourth. In a statement after the election, Hillquit noted the "tremendous Socialist gains" over the previous mayoral election. Alfred E. Smith, the Sheriff of New York County, was elected President of the Board of Aldermen. Conceding defeat, Mayor Mitchel called for unity, saying "with our nation at war, there is no room for division at home." Charles Murphy, the Boss of Tammany Hall, is considered the real victor. He said "there was no issue of Americanism or loyalty as far as I am concerned" and "I am as good an American as any man." Bennett blamed Mayor Mitchel for "turning the city over to Tammany."

September Issue of The Masses

Judge Learned Hand

The Espionage Act, which became law on June 15, makes it unlawful to "interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces" or "incite insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty" or "obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service" or "utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous or abusive language about the form of government of the United States" or "advocate, teach, defend, or suggest" any of those things. In addition to substantial criminal penalties, the Act empowers the Postmaster General to bar publications that violate the Act from the mail. Shortly after the Act became law, Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson ordered the August 1917 issue of the Socialist magazine "The Masses" excluded from the mails, citing articles and cartoons criticizing the war and the draft. On July 24, in a case challenging Burleson's order, United States District Court Judge Learned Hand enjoined the Post Office from refusing to deliver the magazine. He wrote that although articles and cartoons in The Masses might fall within the language of the statute, "they fall within the scope of that right to criticize ... which is normally the privilege of the individual in countries dependent upon the free expression of opinion as the ultimate source of authority," and were thus protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech and the press. The government appealed, and on November 2 a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Judge Hand's order and reinstated the ban. In an opinion written by Judge Henry W. Rogers, the Court of Appeals held that the Espionage Act was constitutional and that "to obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service within the meaning of the statute it is not necessary that there should be a physical obstruction. Anything which impedes, hinders, retards, restrains, or puts an obstacle in the way of recruiting is sufficient." The Court concluded that "considering the natural and reasonable effect of the publication, it was intended to wilfully obstruct recruiting."

Thirteen copies of the September issue of The Masses have been held up at the Post Office for insufficient postage. Postmaster General Burleson has determined that, because the August issue was not mailed, the magazine is no longer eligible for mailing as a periodical. Other methods of circulation may also be foreclosed. The Trading with the Enemy Act, which became law on October 6, forbids any person to "carry, transport, publish, or distribute" any publication that is unmailable under the Espionage Act.

*****

November 1917 – Selected Sources and Recommended Reading

Contemporary Periodicals:

American Review of Reviews, December 1917 and January 1918

New York
Times, November and December 1917

Books and Articles:

John Barrett, Latin America and the War
A. Scott Berg, Wilson
Tasker H. Bliss, Report of the Military Representative on the Supreme War Council to the Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1914-20v02/d147

Britain at War Magazine, The Fourth Year of the Great War: 1917
Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis 1911-1918
John Milton Cooper, Jr., Woodrow Wilson: A Biography
John Milton Cooper, Jr., The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and
Theodore Roosevelt

John Dos Passos, Mr. Wilson's War

David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East, 1914-1922

Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life
Martin Gilbert, The First World War: A Complete History

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

In October 1917 the Allied offensive
in Flanders bogs down in mud and heavy rains
near Passchendaele.The Austro-Hungarian Army, aided by German reinforcements,
breaks through the Italian Army’s lines at Caporetto, sending the Italians into
a headlong retreat.French Army forces
commanded by General Petain attack German Army positions on the Chemin des
Dames, forcing them to withdraw.In Palestine, the British Army captures Beersheba.The first American troops arrive in the
trenches. Great
Britain declares an absolute embargo on shipments to the
Northern Neutrals (Sweden, Norway, Denmark
and the Netherlands) to
prevent them from supplying Germany
with food, ammunition and other war materiel.Reacting to sinkings of its merchant ships by
German U-boats, Brazil
declares war on Germany. Mata Hari is executed for espionage. In the United States, the Trading with the
Enemy Act gives the president broad powers to control trade with enemy countries
in time of war.Using powers conferred
by the new law, President Wilson appoints A. Mitchell Palmer to the post of
Alien Property Custodian.Palmer
promptly seizes money and property belonging to or owed to German subjects and
uses the money to buy Liberty Bonds.Mayor Mitchel of New York City, having lost his party's primary, is running as an Independent. The
second Liberty Bond campaign is a success.The special session of Congress, called earlier this year to declare war against Germany, comes to an end. Columbia University terminates two professors for
suspected disloyalty, causing Charles A. Beard, a prominent political science
professor, to resign from the faculty in protest.The Chicago White Sox (including several future Black Sox) win the World Series,
defeating the New York Giants four games to two.

*****

Australian Soldiers at Passchendaele

The Anglo-French offensive in Flanders, dubbed the Third Battle of Ypres, has been under way since the end of July. British Armies under the overall command of Field Marshal Haig continued the "bite and hold" tactic they employed last month at the Menin Road Ridge and Polygon Wood. On October 4, under a steady rain that had begun the previous day, British armies under the command of Generals Gough and Plumer, mostly Australians and New Zealanders, moved forward about one thousand yards and dug in after occupying Broodseinde Ridge. By then, the rain had become torrential, filling shell holes and turning the ground into an impassable swamp. Both generals recommended halting the offensive, but they were overruled by Haig, who insisted that the attack continue with the objective of capturing Passchendaele Ridge. The offensive continued as scheduled on October 9, but the weather and ground conditions caused the attack to bog down. At month's end, further attacks by Canadian troops have thus far failed to capture Passchendaele Ridge.

The French Offensive at La Malmaison

As the British and Canadians were fighting their way toward Passchendaele to the north, French troops under General Henri Petain, in a renewal of last spring's offensive under General Nivelle, attacked German positions along the high ground of the Chemin des Dames and the fort of La Malmaison. At the end of the month, the French had driven the Germans back to the north bank of the Ailette River and the Oise-Aisne Canal.

Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando

The two offensives launched on the Isonzo River earlier this year by Italian Commander-in-Chief General Luigi Cadorna resulted in over 280,000 Italian casualties but no appreciable gains. Responding to the urgent appeal of Austrian Emperor Karl, Kaiser Wilhelm ordered that German reinforcements be sent to aid in an Austrian offensive. On October 24, led by German divisions under the command of General Otto von Below, the
combined armies attacked at Caporetto. After a short but intense artillery bombardment, the leading units advanced rapidly, using poison gas effectively and bypassing Italian strong points. By month's end, the Italian Army was in full retreat and attempting to establish defensive positions along the Tagliamento River. The defeat caused the fall of the government of Italian Prime Minister Paolo Boselli, who was replaced on October 30 by Minister of the Interior Vittorio Orlando.

General Allenby

The British have failed in two previous attempts to drive the Turks from Gaza, the most direct route from Cairo to Palestine. General Edmund Allenby, the new commander of British Army forces who assumed command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in July, has had more success. After a campaign of deception and a feint toward Gaza that convinced the Turks that Gaza was again the primary target, Allenby instead attacked the crossroads town of Beersheba, located on the southern edge of the Negev Desert. The attack began the morning of October 31 and ended with a cavalry charge by the Australian Fourth Light Horse Brigade which forced the surrender of the last of the Turkish defenders. With the British occupation of Beersheba, the Turkish position in Gaza has become untenable.

American Troops Ashore in France, June 1917

The first Americans have arrived in the trenches. On October 21 American troops were assigned to French units in the Luneville sector, a relatively quiet part of the Western Front. Two days later artillery fire inflicted the first American combat injuries; all the injured soldiers were treated and returned to duty. A few days later the Americans captured their first prisoner, a German orderly who had wandered into the American lines by mistake.

With the United States in the war and enforcing its own embargo (imposed in July) on exports to the northern neutrals (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands), Great Britain no longer has to worry about offending American interests by cutting off neutral trade. On October 2, the London Gazette printed a royal proclamation imposing a sweeping embargo on all trade with the northern neutrals. Under the new embargo, the exportation to those countries of all articles except printed matter and personal effects accompanied by their owners is prohibited.

President Bras Signing the Proclamation of War

The United States is not the only nation whose neutrality has been threatened by Germany's resumption of submarine warfare against merchant shipping Several Brazilian ships have been attacked with the loss of lives and valuable cargo. On October 26 the Brazilian legislature declared war on the Central Powers. The vote was 149 to 1 in the Chamber of Deputies and unanimous in the Senate. President Venceslau Bras signed the proclamation the same day. Brazilian torpedo boat destroyers have been ordered to Bahia to take possession of the German gunboat Eber, which is interned there.

Mata Hari

Margarethe
Zelle, the Dutch entertainer and courtesan who performed under the name
Mata Hari, was arrested in Paris in February and charged with spying
for the Germans. At her trial in July, the French prosecutors accused
her of revealing details of the Allies' new weapon, the "tank," causing
the Germans to rush work on a special gas to be used against it. The
evidence indicated that she had traveled to the English town where the
first "tanks" were being manufactured and that she was subsequently seen
in Spain where she aroused suspicion by associating with a man
suspected by the French Secret Service. She was arrested in Paris after
being seen there with a young British officer attached to the "tank"
service. She was convicted of espionage, and on October 15 she was
taken by automobile from St. Lazaire Prison to the parade ground at
Vincennes where she was executed by a firing squad.

A. Mitchell Palmer

The
Trading with the Enemy Act, which became law on October 6, creates the
post of Custodian of Enemy Property. On October 22, former Pennsylvania
Congressman A. Mitchell Palmer assumed the position and opened offices
at 920 F Street, N.W. He found waiting for him hundreds of letters from
American corporations and others offering to turn over large amounts of
money in the form of dividends from German-owned corporations in the
United States as well as amounts due in settlement of estates and bills
owed to German businesses. In addition to money, Palmer will begin
seizing metals and other materials owned by Germans that are useful for
war purposes, including millions of bales of cotton. The value of the
money and property subject to confiscation is estimated at one billion
dollars. All proceeds will be used to buy Liberty Bonds.

Mayor Mitchel

New York City's reform mayor, John Purroy Mitchel, was elected as a Republican in 1913. Since then his popularity has diminished dramatically, and this year he narrowly lost the Republican primary to a relatively unknown former state senator. He continues to believe, however, that his nonpartisan message of patriotism and reform will carry the day against Democrat John F. Hylan, Tammany Hall's candidate. On October 1 Mitchel stood on the steps of City Hall and addressed a crowd that filled City Hall Park from Park Row to Broadway. With him were former President Theodore Roosevelt, last year's Republican presidential nominee Charles Evans Hughes, and numerous other dignitaries including former ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau and Oscar Straus, former candidate for governor and chairman of the Public Service Commission. A letter of support from former President Taft was read. Replying to speakers who offered him a "popular nomination" to run for reelection as an Independent, he accepted, promising "to make the fight one against Hearst, Hylan and the Hollenzollerns." In a tumultuous meeting on October 4 the New York Republican County Committee voted down a resolution to endorse William M. Bennett, the winner of the Republican primary. Republican leaders are lining up behind Mitchel's Independent candidacy, but this may not be enough to defeat Tammany Hall.

Liberty Bond Poster

A second Liberty Loan drive began on October 1 with a goal of 10 million subscribers for a face value of $3 billion dollars worth of bonds. Reflecting the increase in market interest rates since the first Liberty Bond issue in April at three and a half percent, the interest on this issue is four percent. Holders of bonds purchased in the first drive are allowed to exchange them for the new bonds. After a slow start, it appears that this issue, like the first one, will be oversubscribed. An important element in the success of Liberty Loan drives has been the appeal to patriotism and the mobilization of public opinion through the Committee on Public Information. On October 24, proclaimed "Liberty Day" by the President, volunteer women stationed at factory gates passed out seven million fliers. The mail order houses of Montgomery Ward and Sears-Roebuck mailed fliers
to farm women, and librarians inserted Liberty Loan reminder cards in
public library books.

Vice President Marshall

The special session of Congress that convened on April 2 to hear President Wilson's war message came to an end on October 6. As required by Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution, Congress will convene in its regular session on the first Monday in December. In the 188 days it was in session, in addition to declaring war on Germany, Congress enacted important war measures including compulsory military service and legislation authorizing billions of dollars in borrowing and expenditures, as well as.the Espionage Act, prohibiting interference with military operations and recruitment, and the Trading With the Enemy Act. In the last few hours of its session the Senate confirmed the nominations of several senior military officers, including the promotions of Major Generals John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, and Tasker H. Bliss, chief of the Army General Staff, to the rank of General, which they will hold for the duration of their present assignments. Before adjournment both houses were read a message from President Wilson thanking the Congress for "the work of this remarkable session" which has "been done thoroughly" and "with the utmost dispatch possible in the circumstances or consistent with a full consideration of the exceedingly critical matters dealt with," leaving "no doubt as to the spirit and determination of the country." Speaker Clark and Vice President Marshall then addressed the House and the Senate, respectively. Known for his wit and his self-deprecating sense of humor, Marshall thanked the senators for "the patience and forbearance with which they have dealt at many times with my irascible conduct." Describing himself as a presiding officer who was "not one perhaps they wanted, but one that an ignorant electorate has thrust upon them," he reminded the senators that "the unfortunate thing in public life is that those who know nothing are placed in the seats of the mighty. The wise men remain at home, and discuss public questions on the ends of street cars and around barber shops."

Senator LaFollette

A flood of telegrams and letters have poured into the Capitol in recent weeks demanding the expulsion of Senators Lafollette, Gronna, and Stone, all of whom opposed the declaration of war, on grounds of disloyalty. The Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections asked Senator LaFollette to answer specific questions about statements he had made in an address in St. Paul, and he responded with a two-hour speech on the Senate floor as the session drew to a close. He based his defense on the argument that he has a right to free speech, and told the Senate he will continue to oppose the war and call for the administration to state its war aims. Three of his fellow senators attacked the speech, Senator Joseph T. Robinson (Dem., Ark.) telling him "you can't run for president on a platform of disloyalty."

Professor Beard

In
a meeting held October 1, the Board of Trustees of Columbia University
expelled two professors from the faculty. Professor James McKeen
Cattell of the Department of Psychology and Assistant Professor Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow Dana were ousted on charges that they had
disseminated doctrines tending to encourage a spirit of disloyalty to
the United States Government. Professor Cattell had written letters to
members of Congress urging them to vote against sending drafted soldiers
to Europe, and Professor Dana had joined and become active in the
People's Council despite a warning from Columbia President Nicholas
Murray Butler not to do so because it was engaged in weakening the
government's prosecution of the war. The statement issued by the
University stated that it was "the judgment of the university Faculties,
in which the Trustees concurred, that both Professor Cattell and
Professor Dana had done grave injury to the university by their public
agitation against the conduct of the war." A week later, Professor
Charles A. Beard, a
distinguished and well-known professor of political science, resigned
from the faculty in protest. While repeating his often-expressed
support for the war, he objected to the university's control by "a small
and active group of trustees who have no standing in the world of
education, who are reactionary and visionless in politics, and narrow
and mediaeval in religion." He states that in light of the trustees'
action he can "no longer do my humble part in sustaining public opinion
in support of the just war on the German Empire or take a position of
independence in the days of reconstruction that are to follow."

Heine Zimmerman Leaping Over a Scoring Eddie Collins

The Chicago White Sox defeated the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds on October 15 to win the World Series four games to two. The decisive inning was the fourth, which featured three unearned runs. The game was scoreless when the inning began with Chicago second baseman Eddie Collins coming to the plate as the lead-off hitter. He hit a grounder to third baseman Heine Zimmerman, whose errant throw to first bounced off the ground and out of the infield, allowing Collins to advance to second. Left fielder Shoeless Joe Jackson then hit an easy fly ball to right fielder Dave Robertson, which Robertson dropped, putting Jackson on first and sending Collins to third. The next batter, center fielder Happy Felsch, hit a ground ball to pitcher Rube Benton, who chased Collins back toward third, then tossed the ball to Zimmerman. As he did so, Collins wheeled and sped toward home. Giants catcher Bill Rariden moved up the third base line ready to begin a rundown, but Zimmerman, ignoring shouted advice from fans and teammates to "throw the ball!," chased Collins all the way to the plate in an attempt to tag him from behind. Collins won the race. Felsch and Jackson advanced to second and third on the play, and the next batter, first baseman Chick Gandil, drove them in, giving the White Sox a 3-0 lead. Giants second baseman Buck Herzog hit a two-run triple in the fifth, but that was all the New Yorkers could muster. The White Sox went on to win the game 4-2.

*****

October 1917 – Selected Sources and Recommended Reading

Contemporary Periodicals:

American Review of Reviews, November and December 1917

New York
Times, October 1917

Books and Articles:

John Barrett, Latin America and the War
A. Scott Berg, Wilson

Britain at War Magazine, The Fourth Year of the Great War: 1917
Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis 1911-1918
John Milton Cooper, Jr., Woodrow Wilson: A Biography
John Milton Cooper, Jr., The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and
Theodore Roosevelt

John Dos Passos, Mr. Wilson's War

David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East, 1914-1922

Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life
Martin Gilbert, The First World War: A Complete History